Anderson Silva & Jon Jones Need To Fight Or Shut Up

UFC champions Anderson Silva and Jon Jones have each publicly criticized the drawing power of upcoming opponents. Yet neither man will agree on the biggest fight in UFC history. It’s time to fight each other or stop the whining!

I am really starting to get sick and tired and listening to these two fighters complain about Joe Silva and Dana White’s choice of opponents, yet they completely ignore the obvious solution. These two guys are one contract away from making more money for one fight than they ever could and yet refuse to sign the contract for reasons that don’t make a lot of sense. You can’t have it both ways champs!

Anderson Silva’s camp was the first to start complaining publicly to the media about potential opponents for the champion. Silva’s management took issue with the list of potential middleweight title challengers. According to the champion’s camp, none are deserving of a fight with Silva, nor is Silva interested in fighting amateurs.

“No opponent makes sense for Anderson at this moment. Unless we do a catchweight against Georges St-Pierre,” said Silva’s co-manager to Tatame.com. “They (the UFC) didn’t offer the fight, but he’s the only one that could do a super fight. Anderson has the biggest paycheck in the UFC, and you can’t promote an event with these amateur kids that are coming up now.”

Ironically the only fights Silva and his camp are interested in taking are complete mismatches. Silva’s camp is open to fighting Nick Diaz, Rich Franklin, but are pushing the UFC hard for a fight with welterweight Georges St-Pierre. In other words, Silva is only interested in fighting two guys he’d greatly outweigh or an aging fighter he has destroyed twice.

In addition to being easy fights, all three opponents would make Silva much more money than he would against Chris Weidman or any of the middleweight top contenders. At 37 Silva doesn’t have many fights left so it would appear that it is more important to get the biggest payday as opposed to the best fights. That is fine and perfectly acceptable, yet the one fight that could earn him the biggest payday is off the table. He has outright refused to take the fight that would offer him the best of both worlds against Jon Jones.

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has also made similar remarks in regards to an upcoming fight with Lyoto Machida. The UFC determined that if Jones beats Henderson that Machida would get the next title shot. Unfortunately for the UFC, the champion is not interested in the fight and the reason for this is all comes down to dollars and cents.

“I don’t want to fight Lyoto Machida,” Jones told ESPN.com. “He was my lowest pay-per-view draw of last year. He’s a tough fighter, but no one wants to buy that fight.”

I don’t think I have ever heard a UFC champion publicly moan about taking a fight based on a payoff. Silva’s camp never came out and claimed that fighting Weidman was a money issue, although it would certainly seem like it is. Jones on the other hand has no problem being brutally honest and telling the media that he doesn’t want to take a fight unless he is getting paid.

Inspiring thoughts from the champion aren’t they?

I can understand what Jones is saying about Machida because quite frankly, there aren’t a lot of fans excited about that fight. However, there is one big problem here. Jones has also refused to take the one fight that would offer him the biggest payday of his young career. Jones has flat out refused to fight Anderson Silva.

“We’re in completely different weight classes. We both have sponsor deals and things that are really important to us. A big part of that sponsorship package is being a winning and being a champion. Having us fight each other means one of our championships goes away.”

Wait a second? On the one hand, he doesn’t want to take a fight against the number one contender because he feels it isn’t worth it financially. On the other hand, he won’t take the big fight because he is afraid of losing an endorsement deal? Weight classes doesn’t seem to be a problem for Silva when he is asking to fight guys in a lighter division. You just can’t have it both ways champ! Could you imagine if Peyton Manning refused to play against Tom Brady because he’s afraid that the game would cost one of them an endorsement deal?

It is really simple. Jon Jones and Anderson Silva can make history and put more money in their pockets in one night than at any other time in their careers by fighting one another. There is no good reason that two of the best athletes in MMA history have to not fight each other. Silva has fought in the weight class numerous times and Jones has cleaned out the top contenders. From this blogger’s standpoint the only thing standing in the way of this fight is greed and fear.

Refusing to take the fight is your choice, but don’t complain about your lousy pay days in the meantime.

Eric is the owner and editor-in-chief of the Camel Clutch Blog. Eric has worked in the pro wrestling industry since 1995 as a ring announcer in ECW and a commentator/host on television, PPV, and home video. Eric also hosted Pro Wrestling Radio on terrestrial radio from 1998-2009. Check out some of Eric's work on his IMDB bio and Wikipedia. Eric has an MBA from Temple University's Fox School of Business.

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